1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clutch friction disk having a hub and at least two friction facings attached by fixing members to respective sides of a support coupled to said hub and comprising balancing means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that the rotation speeds of automotive vehicle motors are becoming increasingly higher. A disadvantage of this development is that the problem of balancing friction disks becomes all the more crucial, especially in the case of heavy goods vehicles.
Although the friction disk is the component part of a clutch with the lowest inertia, in view of the rotation speed involved any imbalance affecting it entails the risk of inducing cyclic vibration or disturbance.
It has, of course, already been proposed to balance the friction disks. Generally speaking, the balancing means employed consist in the addition of material in the vicinity of the hub of the friction disk. Specifically, in one known arrangement, the balancing means comprise a weight in the form of a rivet which is placed in a hole formed for this purpose, possibly one of a number of spaced holes, in a flange surrounding the hub.
Like other prior art balancing methods, this method has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, it may be noted that since balancing is effected in the vicinity of the hub its effectiveness is somewhat limited, all the more so in that balancing is effected in a region close to the axis of the friction disk. Also, at least one of the members of the friction disk, namely at least one of the flanges, is used for this balancing. One or more holes must be provided for attaching the balancing weight. Thus the use of this method significantly complicates the manufacture of a friction disk of this kind.
An object of the present invention is to reduce these disadvantages and to provide a simple, economical and effective means of improved balancing.